bunyipco

Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Birds! Birds!

My friend Peter Shanahan asked to share some of his bird photos with the readers of this blog. All are copyright and Peter should be consulted if they are sought to be used elsewhere.

A few are my own and I thought this the best place to display them. Most are common garden birds in north Queensland. Others can be found in open areas not far from the rainforest.

Peter Shanahan photo

The Bush Thick-knee or Bush Stone-curlew, Burhinus gralliarus, a most beloved bird. These birds can be found almost anywhere except in dense rainforests. They do occupy cleared areas along rainforest margins. They are most active at night and their eerie calls are startling to the uninitiated. They feed on insects and small invertebrates but obviously not on Cane Toads.

They often choose nest sites that are not conducive to the best end result. The often select parking lots, little-used roads and roadside verges to set up housekeeping. the nest is not much more than an gathering of a few twigs and leaves to form a cup. When the eggs hatch, the adults soon discover that they are not in the best place and carry on with the broken wing display and much hissing and and beak snapping.

This is not a dead chick but one that is playing "possum". This was photographed on a hot day and it remained in this position for several minutes causing some concern about its vitality. But later it was seen strolling with its parents.

Double-striped Thick-knees, Burhinus bistriatus, in northern Costa Rica, 1972. The similarity in appearance and behaviur to the Australian species is striking.

The common catbird in our area. The calls of this bird, usually at dawn in the morning are not unlike those of a wayward cat. It is a bowerbird but does not build a bower. It is an insect eater and is maligned because of its tendency to raid bird nests.

This is a different bird from the one above and is less often seen. It feeds on fruits and leaves of young trees. Males build a display court or stage that is decorated with leaves positioned with the undersides facing up. "Green" is the theme and leaves are replaced as they fade and age. The stage is placed near a tree buttress or root where the male can perch and wait for females. One attracted, the male bird goes through a series of dances that may eventually lead to a mating.

This is one of the few birds I know that seeks out stick insects (Phasmatodea) as a food source. It also eats frogs and lizards. (It is a bit disconcerting to hear the sorrowful (Buck) cries from the frog victims of the bird as it dismembers them alive. When it spots a prey from the air, the bird has a characteristic diving behaviour that you would think could not work in the forest canopy, but the bird usually emerges with its quarry.

This is Australia's smallest and most widely distributed owl. It is frequently heard at night in cities and we know of a residence in Canberra where one has returned to the same perhcing place year after year.

Surely the Jabiru is not a garden bird but they are seen in open cane fields near Cairns and Mareeba. They are not common but impressive when seen at close range. They feed on a variety of vertebrates and invertebrates. What happens when they encounter a cane toad?

The Whiter-faced Heron is a garden bird depending upon the circumstances. If you have a fish pond, then surely you will have a visit, perhaps multiple visits. And the goldfish will disappear and those that escape the heron will probably be enjoyed by the Keel-backed Snake!

The Pacific Black Duck is the Australian equivalent of the Mallard. Steps have been taken to keep Mallards under control in Australia because they have the tendency to interbreed with others in the genus and produce hybrids. Black Ducks are common visitors to park ponds and garden ponds if out in the open and of large size.

This is a coastal or Mangrove duck. If you are lucky you can see them in the lakes of the Cairns Botanic Gardens adjacent to Greenslopes St. These ducks feed on crustaceans and plant material in their habitat. They nest in tree holes or hollows in branches.

The mortal foe of every gardener is the Orange-footed Scrubfowl (along with the Brush Turkey). The raking habits of these birds and the persistence they display in getting their way, makes gardening a real challenge in the northern tropics. Placing chicken wire on the ground and covering with leaf litter can discourage their scraping. Scrub fowls are megapodes and build large mounds into which they lay their eggs. Some mounds can be many metres in height and length and are the efforts of birds over several generations.

Coming from the southern temperate climes of Canberra, I had no idea that cockatoos would be so common in the rainforest. They are important feeders because the rubble they leave behind is eaten by a variety of other organisms.

The "bully-boy" of the bird feeder. There is much beak-snapping when these birds show up at the feeder. They are Honeyeaters, albeit very large ones. They eat a lot of insects that they encounter when feeding on flowers. Scarabs seems to be a favourite food.

This bird is more often heard than seen. It is a rainforest birds and Peter was lucky to find one in the open when he had his camera available. Pittas feed on worms and insects they find on the rainforest floor in the leaf litter they seem to endlessly search. This species extends north to New Guinea and Indonesia. They use certain rocks as anvils to crack open snails. If lucky, you can find such a favoured rock and the shells of the snails scattered about.

This is a seasonal bird that is often in small flocks. The birds are very vocal and the calls travel for a considerable distance. "Drongo" is an Aussie slang word for an idiot. This refers to the behaviour of the bird which is at best erratic. Drongos feed on insects, small birds and skinks.

I beg to differ with your statement that the word Drongo to describe an idiot, is relative to the erratic nature and behaviour of the bird.

I am afraid that you will need to reconsider your opinion, and correct the text of your post since it is the following which is the truer account - "Just about everyone knows what a "Drongo" means when a fellow human being is addressed as one. It's what you're likely to be called by your Australian mates if you're an idiot, done a stupid act, been a a bit of a dill, a loser even. It comes from constant reference and ridicule of a racehorse that went by the name of "Drongo", which in the 1920s couldn't win one race in 37 attempts!! That animal's only redeeming saving grace was that the losses were in good company on good racetracks."

About Me

David and family moved to Kuranda, Queensland in 2002, following retirement from CSIRO Canberra, Australia. David, Barbara and an assortment of wildlife live in a rainforest setting. It is their first experience living in the tropics.
David's major interest is Entomology. He continues research in the Orthopteroid insects and is keenly interested in the biology of the rainforest.
This blog is a narrative of observations made in and around Kuranda.
AND REMEMBER TO SEE MORE INSECTS GO TO: http://www.flickr.com/photos/naturenoises/
AND PROCEED TO THE "ALBUMS"